Stories before Bedtime
by peppermint quartz
Summary: Gin is Snow White, Tousen is the evil stepfather, Aizen is Prince Charming, and we have Espada as the Seven Dwarfs. What on earth?


**For AiGin FC on BA. You guys are nuts, in a squirreliciously good way.  
****Disclaimer: the usual I own nothing except the diseased pink organ known as my brain.  
****Featuring Aizen/Gin and their child, but not conceived through MPreg. And some other people.**

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**Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs**

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I sit on the side of the bed, caressing my son's wavy silver hair.

Yes, _my_ son. More specifically, Aizen-sama and I had a son via the amazing process known as DNA manipulation and a surrogate mother whom we paid a lot and told her to disappear afterwards.

Anyway, my son likes bedtime stories. And Aizen-sama likes my stories, so he's here in the armchair nearby, fingers linked over his abdomen. I smile at them both – heart of my hearts, both of them – and start.

"Once upon a time, there was a prince and his mother the queen who lived in a huge palace. The prince's name was-"

"Gin!" chirps my son.

I laugh shortly and agree. "Prince Gin was fair and proud, but his mother was a disgraceful hag who decided that she just wants some man to take care of the country while she parties and drinks her life away. So she married some random duke called-"

"Tousen-jiisan," my son proclaims, and Aizen-sama has to keep from chuckling. He knows where the story is headed, and thankfully Tousen isn't around to hear it.

"The duke thus became the King. King Tousen didn't like Prince Gin because, where Prince Gin was pale and slender, King Tousen was stocky and dark. And everyone said that the prince had the most beautiful eyes in the land… and poor King Tousen was blind. He had to be; who else would marry the queen otherwise?"

"To avoid annoying the King, Prince Gin decided that he should retire to the stables to work among his beloved horses. There the stable master gave him no trouble and most of the servants thought he was just another boy come to serve the King. And so he kept out of trouble, but the King still hated him and the thought of the Prince's beautiful eyes."

"One day, the queen drank too much and fell into the palace fountain and drowned. No one really cared, since she wasn't much of a queen anyway. King Tousen then decided to put out the eyes of Prince Gin now that his wife was gone. But he didn't want people to say he did it, so he sent a loyal knight to do so on his behalf, saying that the Prince was a traitor."

"Before the crime could happen, a High Lord came to the palace to visit the King. The High Lord's name was…?"

"I know this one," says my lover and smiles warmly. "High Lord Sousuke."

"High Lord Sousuke was fond of his horses and took them to the stables himself. Here he saw a slender youth and instructed him to water the horses. That stable boy was, of course, Prince Gin. Prince Gin obeyed and took a pail of water from the courtyard well to the stables. Just as he was about to enter, he slipped and fell and the water from the pail splashed all over his head and face."

"The water got into his eyes and so the Prince wiped the grime away. High Lord Sousuke, who was about to help the young man up, was suddenly struck-"

"-by the beauty of the Prince," Aizen-sama continues smoothly, taKing a seat beside me and nudging me into his embrace. He goes on, "For in his life High Lord Sousuke had never witnessed a youth this fair and eyes of such splendorous color. The prince's eyes held the color of the sea and the sky, and were so clear that they stole Sousuke's breath from him. And thus High Lord Sousuke fell in love. He helped the Prince up and kissed him."

I murmur softly, for Aizen-sama's ears only, "Only a kiss?"

"I'll tell you the rest later," he replies equally softly. To our child, he says, "The Prince couldn't help loving this High Lord Sousuke, since this was the first man who had ever kissed him and touched him so gently and kindly. Alas, High Lord Sousuke had to attend the banquet held in his honor in the palace, so the High Lord left Prince Gin with the promise of visiting him later that evening. The high lord did not tell Prince Gin who he was, which would have solved many troubles later on."

I take over the story. "Unfortunately, High Lord Sousuke was occupied with so much official business that he couldn't go to the stables until the next morning. When he arrived, he could not find the slim young stableboy who had caught his fancy. He asked the stable master where the youth had gone. 'Oh, he had to help Sir Hisagi the Ninth Knight with a hunt and left with the knight early this morning.' High Lord Sousuke thought he could afford to wait a little while for the young man to return, while he saw to other things."

"Prince Gin was with Sir Hisagi and they were out in the forest. Sir Hisagi, however, wasn't on a hunt; he was on a mission. King Tousen had ordered his loyal knight to kill the prince. Unknown to the King, however, Sir Hisagi actually loved Prince Gin. He confessed to Prince Gin-"

"-and did Prince Gin do anything?" mutters Aizen-sama, and his hand innocently nudges my ribs.

"-He confessed to Prince Gin," I say, with a glare at Aizen-sama, "and then told the prince to flee. Prince Gin, who was obviously not a stupid person, ran into the deeps of the forest. Sir Hisagi meanwhile caught a deer, cut out its heart, and presented it to King Tousen, who broiled it and served it for dinner."

"By now, High Lord Sousuke was rather worried since the stable boy he fell in love with had not returned. He sought out Sir Hisagi and forced the knight to tell the truth. The knight informed the High Lord who the stable boy really was, and then told High Lord Sousuke of the King's nefarious plan to kill Prince Gin. Enraged, High Lord Sousuke returned to his own fortress called Las Noches."

My son giggles. He likes hearing familiar names. "Who's Hisagi, Papa Gin?"

"A friend of mine," I tell him. "Now, what about Prince Gin? He tore through the dark woods and fell down a ravine. Luckily, nothing was broken and he wasn't injured. Instead he had ended up in a clearing by the sweetest bubbling brook you can imagine. And when the Prince woke from his fall, there were seven small dwarf-sized people all staring at him."

"He was right scared, as you can imagine," I tell my son, tucking him in. "The seven people told Prince Gin their names: Ulqui, Grimmy, Luppi, Nelly, Hali, Syazzy, and Starky."

Our child convulses into giggles at the thought on miniaturized Espada, and Aizen-sama laughs as he hugs me closer. I go on. "Starky said, 'Now that he's awake I shall go to bed.' And he did. Hali blinked twice, then went out with Nelly. Luppi sat beside the Prince, trying to find out more about the newcomer, and was thrown out by Grimmy. Syazzy stared a long time at the prince, then muttered something about finding the perfect medicine to heal the cuts and then he could get samples for his tests. Ulqui and Grimmy both glared at each other, until the prince could take their hidden tension no longer and asked them to leave."

"Now, these seven people were known as Seven Espada. No one dared to enter that clearing because they were apt to get angry and tear up huge chunks of land and forests. But the Prince, having worked so hard for so long, started to order them about as if they were his personal servants and they, being unsure of how to treat Prince Gin, obeyed him. Despite his bossiness, they did like him a lot too, because he had the silliest stories to tell, and not one of those had a sad ending."

"One evening, a herald came to the clearing. 'All hail High Lord Sousuke! He calls for thee to remember thy oath, and to fulfill them!'"

"Grimmy was impatient and snapped, 'Which f – I mean, crackhead does the High Lord want us to kill now?' Nelly and Hali, who were with Grimmy, waited for the herald to tell them. Upon hearing the enemy stated, the Seven Espada headed off and left Prince Gin to fend for himself."

"The High Lord had declared war on the King, denouncing him as a murderous traitor, killing both Queen and Royal Prince. The King was no match to High Lord Sousuke's army, and the Seven Espada, small though they were, led the charges through thousands of men. Eventually, High Lord Sousuke conquered the King's land and became the King. The King had, however, escaped via a secret tunnel, and King Sousuke sent out bands of soldiers to find him. The Seven Espada then told the King they wanted to go home, and home they went."

"The previous King survived. Dressed in a shabby old cloak, his beard grown out and matted into grimy clumps, Tousen now looked like a beggar. He blamed the fall of his kingdom on the Prince and set out to hunt the Prince down."

"Tracking the Prince after so long wasn't easy, especially for a blind man like Tousen. Eventually he came to a witch, who gave him a magic apple in exchange for the signet ring of the King, and directed him to the Prince."

"Now it was autumn and the Prince was looking forward to apples. When a peddler came selling apples, Prince Gin bought a bushel and ate one, the one that looked ripest. And the instant the apple entered his mouth, the Prince fell into a dead faint. The peddler was the King! He was overjoyed at having poisoned the Prince that he didn't check where he was walking, and fell into the brook and drowned and was carried away into the sea, never to be found again."

"When the Espada came back, they found the young man collapsed on the ground. Luppi came up with the idea that they send him to the newly crowned King as tribute and also to get rid of a freeloader. Luppi bound him and Ulquiorra composed a letter to the King."

"To their surprise, the next day an entourage of carriages and servants arrived in the Seven Espada's cottage. King Sousuke dismounted his horse, dashed into the cottage, and saw his true love lying on a table as if dead. The King tried to wake the Prince up, but alas! Prince Gin remained resolutely asleep."

"The Seven Espadas apologized for not knowing who the prince was, and King Sousuke ordered them from the cottage. Then he commanded everyone, even the horses, to clear the area for a hundred paces."

"After about half an hour they heard a great cry of joy from inside the cottage. Then they heard other shrieks, and a few yells, and then silence. After an hour or so, King Sousuke carried Prince Gin, who was very awake but fragile-looking, into his carriage. Then they traveled to Prince Gin's palace and they lived happily ever after. That was after the King bought a new table for the seven Espada though."

Our son is already asleep. I pat him once more before sliding off the bed and taking Aizen-sama's hand. "How did you like the story?" I ask.

He nuzzles me and grins. "I'd like you to show me why the Seven Espada's table broke."

I chuckle and dart out of his grip, and he gives chase until we get to our bedroom.

"_And we live happily ever after," _I whisper, just as we close the door.


End file.
